Thursday, March 27, 2014

In Peru’s Andes Mountains, man and wife of the Q’ero tribe complement
each other’s work. The man spins wool, the woman weaves. Q’ero men and women
never stop spinning the wool of their
llamas, alpacas and sheep, even when walking. And women carry their looms with
them when guarding their animals at pasture.

Bananas trucked up Ecuador’s Andean Mountains from warmer lands thousands
of meters below are being loaded on the llamas of Quichua Indians near Zumbahua
(Cotopaxi Province) for further travel to still higher villages.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Young Wodaabe (Bororo) woman of Niger’s Sahel. Her nomadic tribe, part
of the larger Fulani family spreading between Senegal’s coast and Lake Chad,
raises big long-horned zebus, camels, sheep, and goats.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Main street of friendly Adukrom, an Ashanti village near Kumasi, Ghana. Its
farmers produce cocoa, oranges, tomatoes, plantain, onions and other vegetables
for sale in Kumasi. The mango tree shades meetings.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Danakil mother I photographed in Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression. At the
bottom of the Great Rift Valley, that depression is one of the world’s lowest
regions. Reaching temperatures topping over 120 degrees Fahrenheit (50 celsius),
it’s also the world’s hottest--an inferno of active volcanoes, endless black lava
fields, blinding salt lakes, and boiling sulfurous sources only the Danakil
will fight over.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Somba dwelling in Benin’s Atakora Mountains near Boukombe. Such dwellings were originally built like miniature
castles for protection against Bariba horsemen attacks. Scattered as they were,
they forced the horsemen to scatter as well, making them better targets for
bows and arrows.The thatched conical roofs cover millet and sorghum granaries.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

A Cofan headman and his wife look out of their hut’s windows in Colombia’s
Amazon rain forest. Their tribe lives across the Colombian-Ecuador’s border. The
man’s necklace is made of the canine teeth of jaguars he has killed.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Another picture from my 1969 Sahel journey. The one I posted yesterday
was of Wodaabe nomads. This one is of Tuareg nomads riding away from a well. Water-filled
goat skin bags hang from the bellies of their donkeys.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

In 1969, when I took this picture, black-and-white was still much in use
because it was much cheaper to print. Still, I needed to shoot in color as
well, which I did. Because zoom lenses had not yet reached professional quality
I used only primary lenses. And to be ready for anything happening, I always worked
with two cameras, a Leica M2 with a 35 mm lens and a Nikon F with a 105 mm
lens. I also carried a similar pair of cameras so equipped to shoot black-and-white.
Thankfully, those cameras were relatively small and light compared to
professional digital cameras today, of which you need only one toady for any situation. Additionally, for when I had the time to
change lenses, I carried Nikon lenses of 20, 28, and 50
mm in a pouch on my belt. Still, I used my Leica the most, as it was the easiest to hide when necessary
to shoot unobtrusively, and because I liked to shoot close to my subjects.

I shot this picture in Niger’s Sahel while working on four books on
African children of different countries. But my experience with this tribe, the
Woodabe, and that of the Tuareg, who I was also shooting there, got me the
following year a National Geographic
assignment to do a chapter on each of those tribes for their book, Nomads of the World. At that time I
would shoot only color.

The men here are singing at the rhythm of their companion’s hand-clapping.
They are on their way to a Yakey dance, which doubles as a male beauty contest,
where they will grimace comically, rolling eyes and showing teeth to display their
whiteness, as I have shown in previous posts.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Flooded cattle plains near Salitre, in Ecuador’s coastal Guayas
Province. For eight months of the year these grasslands teem with zebus watched
over by many cowboys. Come the rains in January, and the men move the cattle to
higher ground, leaving the savanna as a vast shallow lake covered in many
places by water lilies. During four months, until the rains stop and the waters
recede, the men will have to cook their own meals, for women and children will remain
behind, now moving around by canoe. The seasonal effects on these lowland people
and their landscape are stunning.

Signed Prints

There are a thousand pictures on this blog. For a limited time, I'm offering three 8 x 10 inch signed prints of any of them for only $99, shipping included to American addresses. Other sizes available. For more information write to viengleb@aol.com